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Monday, 8 January 2018

The Amazing World of Gumball: season 5

Season
5 of Gumballhad some of the most
enjoyable episodes of the show’s run, with some of the most interesting
character development, though also a couple of the show’s only duds too.

Looking
back to season one, Gumball has come
a long way, looks a lot better, and tends to have very slick, economical
writing with good jokes, very likeable characters and that same love for
animation that drew me in the first place. I don’t remember ever laughing quite
as hard at a cartoon as I did at the end of The
Ex.

What
I really like about Gumball is that
while it sometimes re-treads old, familiar cartoon plotlines – love potions,
working with a hated teacher to pass a test, trying to get rid of Granny’s
unwanted gifts – it’s very much a cartoon that focuses on contemporary
lifestyle. A lot of cartoons these days, not counting satirical comedies for
adults, try to have their characters in some weird timeless setting where
people don’t use the internet or have smartphones and high school is, well, the
way the writing team remember it. Maybe they have a game console that bleeps
and bloops and shows some 8-bit graphics. That goes hand-in-hand with the sorts
of references that are safe to use – classic movies or 80s iconography, classic
rock bands with iconic looks, perhaps even some classic literature. Well,
Gumball throws all that out and references internet memes like Friendship Ended
with Mudasir and Yu-Gi-Oh chins, has its kids use Facebook, Instagram and
Wikipedia clones, catfish their grandpa and in a truly brilliant move has an
episode made in collaboration with the makers of ‘Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared’
(which is superb in its own right).

There’s
also a Yelp-reviews-as-blackmail episode, but South Park already did that, and it wasn’t really a highlight of
either show’s run. The show’s take on social justice also went semi-viral last
year, and while it was a very intelligent commentary on it often being used (especially
online) by self-righteous people not because they care about the issues they’re
talking about but because they want to dominate in arguments and cover their
insecurities by being the most tolerant, it was a real shame the clips that
circulated didn’t show how Gumball learns that he was misguided in the way he
tried to debate. The show ultimately concluded that forgiveness and genuine compassion
trump argumentative self-righteousness.

Other
references are more safe and straightforward, and it seems like the show is
embracing the referential aspect of its comedy and running with it, sometimes a
bit far. I enjoyed the Final Fantasy parody episode, and the episode where
Gumball tries to befriend Ocho to get to Mario works mostly for the character
humour and not the references, but for example Harry Potter references fall
flat (especially when two different episodes’ references to Ron being annoying
and Gumball preferring Voldemort to Harry kind of clash with each other). Other
than a surprising Kyary Pamyu Pamyu skit, ‘The Singing’was one of the show’s worst episodes, a lazy compilation of
unoriginal song parodies – also breaking the unwritten rule that Gumball and
Darwin will always appear at least once. It’s these kinds of clip shows that
don’t really work, with ‘The News’ another example, bringing to mind the worst
random episodic gag episodes of Rick and Morty.

This
season again devotes time to some of the more minor characters to develop them.
Even Sussie gets an episode, which ends in truly bizarre, somehow uplifting
style. Rocky gets an episode too, though not much new is said about him. We
also get a relationship episode for Darwin, obliquely referencing his bromance
with his adoptive brother, as well as a bit more development for Gumball’s
grandpa Frankie, and a nice episode where Nicole reflects on what might have
happened had she never met Richard. I really enjoy episodes developing the main
cast, but subversions of what’s expected – like Gumball pining for his nemesis
Rob when Rob decides to move on – are the most brilliant.

References to the likes of Gremlins and Jurassic Park
aren’t particularly surprising, even at the same time, but unexpected
references include the chest-thumping from The
Wolf of Wall Street, the scream from The
Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Gumball has always been a show that throws
in unexpected and amusing references, and this isn’t the first time we’ve seen obscurities
from the Internet – How-To Basic was referenced last season, there was an
episode about going too deep on Youtube and ending up with Rickrolls and
Youtube Poop, and there have been art choices very reminiscent of the Yaranaika
face and Dolan in the past, so I’m not surprised how this aspect of the show is
developing. There’s a need to be cautious, though – too much and it will become
unfunny or detract from the heart and soul of the show. Already Gumball’s
malleable 2-D nature is becoming a bit overdone, especially when it’s ignored
when he decides he’s the only kid without special powers. Still, so far the
show isn’t overstepping and I’ll be watching the show into its sixth season
happily.

Oh,
and there’s one throw-back to the awkwardness with the Hot Dog Guy. Marvellous!

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Welcome to Adziu's small corner

Welcome to my little blog, here in this small corner.
Over the years I have seen a few hundred animated series and movies, and the purpose of this blog is to house my impressions. This is not intended to be a daily blog with impressions of each episode: I write my thoughts only after viewing something complete. Several have been imported from previous blogs dating back to 2005 - as well as drawing from journals from as early as 1999!
Now, please do sit, enjoy the fire, have a mug of something warm and put in a comment or two.